THANK GOD, I AM ALIVE TODAY - ITS NEW LEASE ON MY LIFE
On Tuesday morning, the Farmers Branch paramedics team responded to my 911 call, and within 30 minutes they had me on the ER table, and the good doctors unclogged the artery and placed a stent to keep the blood flowing. Doctor Siddiqi said another 30 minutes would have been too late, and I would have gone!
It was the severe chest pain coupled with sweating that got me alarmed. I didn't want to call any one that early, but texted my friend Adil, he was driving out of town and thanks to him for suggesting to call 911, and after debating within, I reluctantly made the call, it was the right thing to do. If you or your loved ones were in a similar situation, please don't hesitate to call 911.
 |
| Father Daughter |
God willing, I will be active in a few days, meanwhile I ask you to strengthen your existing relationships with your loved ones. Don't know who is going to go when. Let�s be good to fellow beings and live a regret free life, at least from here forwards. I request you to forgive my shortcomings and excesses.
Thank you for your friendship.
Thanks to Yasmeen for her persistent push for me to lose weight, indeed, I owe her a big thank you for getting me down from 215# to 190#, at one time I had gone down to 179#, today I'm 189. She has set a goal of 175# for me, and I will listen to her dutifully now, and enjoy the dieted delicious foods she will be fixing for me.
One of the best things that has happened to me is the time I am getting to spend with my grown up daughter, son, daughter in law and my 15 day old grand baby Jayden. Mina, my daughter is with me for the last four days, and will be with me for another week. I did not realize she is so caring, loving and responsible to keep me on tract from medicine to food to driving me around. I am looking forward to two weeks of heaven with my kids; this is one of the biggest joys of my life. Then I will be heading to Yasmeen and spend another week or two with her before I get back to normal working, speaking and writing.
Thanks to Dr. Amer Shakil for treating me some five years ago, and then Dr. Asifa Ijaz. I wish I had listened to them, and continued with the medication they had prescribed. If you are like me, don't act like me, please listen to your doctor.
On Tuesday morning on July 9, cold sweat flipped me upside down. I got up earlier than I had planned on getting up for my first suhoor (early meal to commence fasting) of Ramadan due to massive chest pain, it was early in the morning and did not want to call anyone, and I thought it would go away from aspirin... It did not. So, I reluctantly called 911.
While waiting for the ambulance, an old scene returned to my mind, way back in mid sixties, I had fallen from a tree and had recited a few verses from Qur�an (Ayatul Kursi, Fatiha, and Ikhlas) thrice in less than thirty seconds while I was unconscious (my friends told me that). Even though I consider myself a rationalist, I still cannot figure out how I was able to recite all that in such a short period of time. Once again, on Tuesday morning, I repeated that recitation while waiting for the paramedics.
At 11:13 PM on Monday night, I "started" the 1st day of Ramadan note and posted at www.ramadandaily.com, this would have been the 4th year of writing about Ramadan, everything you wanted to know about Ramadan. Thank God, I have been able to visit every mosque of every denomination during Ramadan with a determined purpose of learning and sharing the uniqueness of each tradition with the other without prejudice. The more we know about the other, the lesser biased we would be, and subsequently free ourselves from the evil of prejudice.
I urge every religious person of every faith, particularly the ones who are biased towards others, or the ones hung up with others to make an effort to enjoy true freedom and liberation from hate and ill will by learning about the other, until you find good positive information.
My first Iftaar (breaking of fast) was going to be with Dr. Imam Yusuf Zia Kavakci at the Richardson Mosque. Dr Kavakci is a man I greatly respect and have consistently mentioned and written about him for the great qualities of a Muslim he is blessed with. The last time we met was about two weeks ago at Zahra Khan's funeral (my friend Adil's 19 year old angel, who is considered Shaheed, God's favorite person as she died with cancer) a week ago, Dr. Kavakci gave me a special hug, a very affectionate one like my father, and said a lot of nice things in public prior to the prayer, it meant a lot to me.
This is my first RAMADAN in four years; I won't be able to do anything. However, if you have an interest in learning about the spirituality, traditions and politics of Ramadan, please visit www.RamadanDaily.com. Even though I won't be fasting and visiting mosques this season, I'll still continue to write about different aspects of Ramadan.
Thru the grace of God, I am alive today with a renewed mission to follow the teachings of my mentors; Prophet Muhammad, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
I am committed to do the following to the best of my ability;
1. To be the Amin - the truthful, trustworthy and an instrument of safeness to fellow Americans.
2. To be a conflict mitigater and a goodwill nurturer
3. To be �just" in every aspect of life
4. To live with an open heart and an open mind towards fellow beings,
5. To Stand up for others.
6. To work on fixing the ill practices of individuals within my religion; Islam
7. To work on fixing the ill practices of individuals within my Party; GOP
May Allah guide me to remain on the path and I appreciate your support in moving forward. Thank God, I have no religious, political or national walls between me and another individual, and it's good to be free.
The Spiritual freedom is indeed the greatest achievement in one�s life and it sticks to you. Those of us, who can free ourselves from ill-will, malice, hate, tension, pain, anxiety, apprehension, hostility, stress, strain and conflicts, are showered with blessings of peace and joy. It is good to be free.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Mike Ghouse
Mike
(214) 325-1916
----
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work and social settings. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show and the O'Reilly Factor on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him. 
